Is Your Expense Policy Setting Your Business Up for Success Or Holding It Back?

Most companies don’t revisit their expense policy until something goes wrong. Maybe it’s an audit issue, a compliance breach, or just an employee frustrated over a rejected lunch receipt. But what if your expense policy could do more than just prevent problems? What if it could actually support your business goals, boost employee satisfaction, and improve cost control?

In today’s evolving business landscape across Australia and New Zealand considering hybrid work, economic pressures, and digital transformation, your expense policy needs to be more than a checkbox. It needs to be strategic.

Tips and guidelines for creating an expense policy

Why every business needs a well-written expense policy? Having control over company spending is critical for businesses of all types and sizes. Your employee expense policy is an essential tool for doing just that.

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Why Finance Leaders Are Rethinking Expense Policies

Whether you’re leading finance in a lean startup, managing spending across a mid-size business, or standardising compliance in a complex enterprise, you’re likely facing the same challenge: how to align your expense policy with real-world business priorities.

Some key questions you might be asking:

• Is our policy still fit for purpose in a hybrid work environment?

• Are we unintentionally creating friction for employees trying to do the right thing?

• Do we have enough visibility to spot risky or non-compliant spend before it becomes a problem?

A well-designed expense policy doesn’t just prevent fraud. It empowers employees, enforces compliance, and helps finance teams make smarter decisions.

The Hidden Costs of a 'Good Enough' Expense Policy

Many businesses have expense policies that are outdated, unclear, or inconsistently applied. This often leads to:

• Reimbursement delays and employee frustration

• Loopholes that open the door to non-compliant spend

• Time-consuming manual reviews and approvals

• Difficulty enforcing rules across teams, regions, or entities

If employees don’t understand your policy or find it hard to follow, they’ll either ignore it or spend extra time trying to interpret it. Either way, your business pays the price.

Why Every Business Needs a Clear Policy 

• Cost control: Firm spend limits turn every employee into a steward of company money. 

• Visibility: Categorised rules show who buys what, when and how often. 

• Vendor leverage: Preferred-supplier clauses strengthen your hand in rate negotiations. 

• Happy employees: Transparent perks (think training, gym passes or car allowances) make benefits crystal clear.  

What the Best Expense Policies Have in Common

After working with thousands of businesses across ANZ, we’ve identified the key traits of effective, modern expense policies:

• Clarity: Simple, jargon-free language that leaves little room for guesswork

• Flexibility: Enough room to adapt to different roles, travel needs, and work styles

• Enforceability: Clear controls, automated compliance, and system integration

• Alignment: Policies that reflect your company values and cost-conscious culture

Even small tweaks can have a big impact. For example, updating per diem rates, setting clearer thresholds for manager approval, or embedding policy rules directly into your expense system can significantly improve compliance and employee satisfaction.

Six Starter Moves to Get Your Policy Off the Ground 

1. Review what you’ve got: Talk to managers about what works, and the pain points they face. 

2. Run a spend analysis: Use card data, travel partners and telco reports to spot common costs. 

3. Keep it human and ditch jargon: concise, friendly language wins hearts and compliance. 

4. Use sensible rules: Treat everyone fairly so limits feel reasonable, not restrictive. 

5. Make it easy to find: House the policy on your intranet and embed it in your expense tool. 

6. Tap mobile power: A phone-based app lets staff snap receipts once and forget them.  

What Belongs in Every Expense Policy 

• Who the policy covers 

• Fraud, bribery and corruption stance 

• Allowable and non-allowable categories 

• Submission, approval and reimbursement timelines 

• Dispute-resolution path 

• Rules for hybrid or remote workers 

• Consequences for non-compliance: make them factual, not scary  

Pro tip: Update the document as your business evolves: New markets, new tax rules, new ways of working. 

Automate for Effortless Compliance 

• Integrate card feeds so transactions land in reports pre-coded and pre-taxed. 

• Snap-and-submit mobile receipts eliminate paper and lost proofs. 

• AI policy checks flag breaches before approval, slashing audit hours. 

• Live dashboards let finance track cycle time, GST reclaim, and policy hit rates.  

Get the Full Guide: How to Build a Best-Practice Expense Policy in ANZ

Ready to take a fresh look at your policy?

Our free Expense Policy Guide for Australian and New Zealand businesses walks you through:

• Common pitfalls that cost companies time and money

• Real-world examples of effective policy design

• A step-by-step checklist to help you build or revise your policy

• Tips for rolling it out successfully across your organisation

Download the full guide here and take the guesswork out of policy compliance. Because a strong expense policy isn’t just about controlling costs, it’s about enabling smarter business.

Tips and guidelines for creating an expense policy

Ready for step-by-step templates, sample wording and ROI calculators? Download the complete Expense Policy Guide and turn spending chaos into confident control today.  

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